Customer Reviews:
 Terrific first novel November 20, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
He designed a roller coaster ride of a novel - you can see him telling his fellow post-grad students about it. "...and *then* - no wait, there's more! - and *then* he goes to prison, but he escapes, see..."
The hero has a strong voice which makes the novel whole, and the novel is about him commenting on the things that happen to him, but he starts in grad school, quits and goes to Mexico, then gets a job pumping gas - all commented on with irony and self-detatchment, very amusingly - then he gets framed and goes to prison, then he plays baseball in the prison league, then his team escapes from prison...it's a unique take on many genres, well worth reading.
It reaches no conclusions except that you can't live your life based soley on romatic principles, and if the end of the novel leaves you at no particular destination, at least you had a lot of fun getting there. Great title. A must read for young men for whom The Great Gatsby is their favorite novel.
 Pulling Out the Stops February 21, 2000
3 out of 8 found this review helpful
This book has a heart so big that it makes you breathe a big sigh and smile and say, "First Novel." The whole kitchen sink is here and the devil in the drain too. The venue shifts often and different parts of the book are hilarious in different ways. I've read this book a few times over several years, and I keep telling people about this part or that part that was called to mind by my current situation. Not perfect, but inspiring for any writer looking at the mountain of a novel to be written.
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